A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (2007, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of A Boy Soldier

The Entertainment Critic Book Review By James Myers
A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER-By Ishmael Beah
Published by Sarah Crichton Books
An Imprint of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
229 Pages
ISBN 13: 978-0-374-10523-5
ISBN 10: 0-374-10523-5
(Four Star Rating)****



“My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”.”



A Long Way Gone is the Memoir of a former boy soldier. Told to us as an adult, Ishmael Beth, from Sierra Leone, Africa, now 26, was a rebel soldier who was separated from his family at the age of 12 and conscripted into the government army at the age of 13. Beth tells us that he and a friend left home to attend a talent show in a village 16 miles away, on the way the rebels attacked their village of Mogbwemo, their school had been cancelled, and they were to become exiles on the run. At 13 the Rebels finally catch up with Ishmael and enlist him into the army. The Rebel forces used children because they were loyal, fearless, and easily manipulated. They also came in an endless supply to wreck havoc. Today there are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers world-wide.
He is given an AK-47, supplies with marihuana, pills and “brown brown” (a combination of cocaine and gunpowder thought to make the boys do anything that was asked of them). At night they watch Rambo, by day they kill literally thousands of people. The boys suffer from a variety of ailments, wounds, burns and nightmares.

One of the Rebel officers takes a shine to Ishmael. Out of the blue, when he is 15, Ishmael is selected to leave the compound with a UNICEF truck and is told that his services are no longer required. Placed in a child dorm in Freeland, the capital of Sierra Leone, the boys disarm the MP’s that are guarding them and killed each other. After this first battle, the book contains graphic descriptions of the boys suffering from drug withdrawal. The war is closing in on the capital, when miraculously; Ishmael is chosen to go to the United Nations to speak about children involved in war in Africa. He speaks, he makes friends, but he returns. A second miracle occurs when he finally comes to the United States for good. As he tells this tale, he is a 26 year old college graduate.

This is a deeply disturbing book, but an important one. Ishmael’s ability to over his brutal past is a central part of this story. This is a very direct first person account of ferocious fighting and blood-drenched villages. The book is a classic example of one overcoming man’s inhumanity to other men. This is a vivid memoir told through the eyes of a child. Beah’s inspiring pursuit of his own humanity is worth a long look. It is a haunting memoir, unflinchingly told. It is a gripping tale. I recommend this book.




You Can Purchase This Book At My Bookstore
www.morebeautifulwomanmag​azine.com
www.theentertainmentcriti​c.com

I picked this book up in the airport last year on my way to Bangkok. What a gift it was, I could not put it down and on a 25 hour flight I read it twice. The funny thing is, I', not that much of a reader so you know it had to tug at my heart and soul. Ishmael, the boy in the book, tells of his story and the war he was involved in and eventually he becams a part of that war, doing drugs, killing people, he had turned to the hatred. I believe his family was killed as well and most of his friends. I cannot say much except that it is a must read for adventure, heartache, fear, frustration, hatred, and eventually heart warming.. just read it and escpae for a few hours..

This is the story of children being used as soldiers through the use of brainwashing and drugs. In particular, this is the story of Ishmael Beah, who was just 12 years old when he fled his village while it was being attacked by rebels. He wandered through the brush for months, until he was captured by an army unit that taught him to use an AK-47 and fed him drugs. Ishmael describes his life of horror, until at the age of 15 he was saved by UNESCO. With the help of his uncle and a nurse that worked there,he turned his life around.

The reader isn't spared the horror of Ishmael's young life when he describes exactly how he became a killing machine. In Hebrew, Ishmael means "may God hear" and I believe he did and he helped. This story goes on today with other boys Ishmael's age and even younger. Can you imagine this way of life for your own children?

A thoughtful, reflective portrayal in the life of a child soldier from Sierra Leone. While offering some details on the violent these children endure, the book is not too graphic for the squeamish. The books resolution is a good one, which is not always the case for children involved against their will in civil war strife throughout the world.

This was a gripping book about the experiences of a child soldier in Africa. First Mr. Beah describes his childhood, then the horrors of witnessing the slaughter of those in his and other villages, and his eventually being forced as a child to fight and kill as a soldier. The scenes describing the difficulties he faced after being rescued and placed in a rehabilitation facility were especially poignant, sad, and painful to read. Mr. Beal's difficulties in coping with his PTSD rang true for me. This book is hard to put down.